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Thursday, Apr. 30, 2020

Are drugs used to treat high-altitude sickness likely to be of any help against COVID-19?

William Boger, Gigafact
no

Acetazolamide and nifedpine are commonly used to treat respiratory symptoms in patients suffering from high-altitude pulmonary edema when fluid begins to accumulate in the lungs. A Brooklyn doctor has suggested acetazolamide would be worth examining to see if it could treat similar lung problems observed in many COVID-19 patients.

A Seattle doctor who specialize in pulmonary diseases disagrees, warning against any "false equation" of the lung problems. Using acetazolamide for COVID patients "is just wrong," he has said. High-altitude sickness and COVID are "fundamentally different from each other." Medications used to treat altitude sickness could have dangerous consequences in COVID-19 patients, he warns.

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